Foxwoods World Poker Finals...

Hi all. Jon and I spent a few days at Foxwoods. We both played the $400 NL. I had a huge stack early. Here are some interesting hands.

Early- 50/100 level. I have about 6300 (started w 5k). I am sitting next to a good acquaintance, phil. He is very nice, and I respect his game. He had been raising frequently, but not ep. So he raises utg (my bb) to 300, folds to me, I look down at JJ. I decide to smooth. I can narrow Phil's range to AA KK QQ, JJ and AK here. I don't think he raises any other hands. Flop is J 4 5, 2 hrts. Even though I am friendly with Phil, I must play my game. I lead out for 350, Phil raises to 1k. I smooth call. Turn is Kd. I check and he thinks for a little while, and checks. Now I am certain he has AA. I beleive KK, AK hh- he bets turn. River is 9 diam. I lead out 1500, and Phil reluctantly calls and showes AA. We discussed the hand after and he said, he didnt know if he could fold that hand on the river, but he felt like he should've. I told him, which I believe 100%, that it was definitely a really tough spot. Problem is there are not many hands that he beats on the river.

Early- blinds 100- 200. I have AK os in the hijack. Folds to me, I raise to 550. I had been active, raising every three hands and have only shown down the JJ and maybe one other hand. The button looks at hand, appears that he may be reraising, and then decided to smooth call. All else fold. Flop is A 7 8, two spades. I had As. I check, and button thinks, and checks behind. Turn is 4 hrts. Which really does not change his range in my opinion. I give 10s-qqs, or mid pair, which means he may have a set. I lead turn for 700. He quickly min raises to 1400. Now I have total of 7500 behind and he has about 4800 after his minraise. I decided that if I re raised right here 1400 on top, not only am i representing so much strength, but I will get paid by AQ AJ, A10, and if he has two pair and im beat on the river, and I check river, he might check behind with two pair. Truth is, I am committed if he bets, and if he calls turn, he is not calling to bluff river, so I probably should bet river anyway. So he calls quickly river is complete brick, and I check (did not take long enough to act and he checks behind and tables AQ. I ship, but if I know he's that strong I probably just shove turn over his raise. I dont know. It was definitely a mistake to check the river. What do you guys think?

Then I got moved and everything went to shit. I lost two races, then built back up to 12k (was at 16k at one point). Then lost every hand I raised, and then 4 way limp pot at 300 600- I find AQ os in bb w 8400 and ship and of course one limper has KK. But what annoys me is that guy was so aggro all the time. and then limps w kk and gets action from me, of all people. Like, just play your hand dude. Follow ur image, if he raised, truth is i shove anyway. And I felf tkind of done. Flop was q hi and i brick obviously. wasnt getting away from it anyway w 18 bbs in unraised pot had i decided not to raise. Oh well.

Jon and I both played $1500 on Sunday also. That was a lot of fun. I busted 10 from money with 4 tables left and Jon busted 33rd or something. Really frustrating. I think I played too tight, but Jon had soo many chips and just found himself in really bad spots in big pots. It just was not meant to be. Vanessa Selbst won the tourney, congrats to her. She played well at the one table I was at with her. She was ok. I thought it was really pretentious that she was reading law school books at the table. When I was in school, I could never think of reading a law book in such a distracting environment. Not to mention, as an attorney, it appears that she is trying to show off. I thought it was ghey, but to each their own, I suppose. She is an extremely talented player and I did respect her game. I thought one move she made was obvious, but other than that, she played well. Even in her move hand, she got a guy to lay down an over pair, which he played really really bad. Eh, whatever, she deserved to win.

More later.

Good money and peace,

Garnet.

I have Returned...and a crazy non-poker experience

Hi all. Sorry for not posting for a month and a half. So, since August, I have been kind of down on multi tables. I had a long streak of not cashing live (like 10) and online has been such a grind and every tournament has felt like a bubble. Jon, on the other hand, has done amazingly. He has had 3 five figure cashes in the last two months. I am so super proud of him. He is playing so super well and his game is A+++++. In September, I played maybe 15-20 multi tables all month (I usually average 60-80 a month). Instead, I focused on 45 man sngs. I <3>

Sunday, I finally finally had a 5 figure cash myself! I final tabled the 200k on UB, came in 3rd and it felt awesome. It renewed my spirit to grind and keep playing. Poker funks are not fun. I wasn't depressed or sad about poker, I was just very apathetic. I simply did not care and was not excited to play online. Instead, the energy I normally put it into poker, I used to focus on my business and to grow it.

My partner, Cesar and I have developed a website http://www.repulaw.com/, and we are spending a lot of time advertising. Our goal is to build a stable per diem business and eventually gain clients and start our own firm. We specialize in insurance defense, but we are also looking to expand into healthcare and business law. I feel lots of good things happening in the future.

Foxwoods is next week so I am really looking forward to playing some events, and then Jon and I are off to California Halloween weekend for a Phish festival. Jon loves Phish and his family and I chipped in for his birthday to get him the trip. It will be a great experience, I think. We are having a hard time deciding what to dress up as, any suggestions?

Non poker experience. So, just for a bit of background- I have a strong faith in God and I believe we have spiritual connections, and there are people in this world with special psychic abilitites and individuals who can communicate with the dead to some extent. I am not a freak and I do not conduct seances or dance around a cauldron, lol. I am a realist in many ways, but like to think I am not ignorant to the fact that there is more than just "us" to this world. That being said, I have never had a "ghostly/spiritual experience" before three weeks ago. It really shook me up.

I was sleeping on a Wednesday night (I think the second week in September) and was suddenly awakened. Not a groggy wake up feeling, I woke up as if it was the middle of the day- my eyes snapped open and i was very alert. There was no chance I was dreaming. I looked over at my alarm clock and it said 5:20a.m.

I turned over to go back to sleep, and all of a sudden, the "pins and needles" feeling that you get when a limb is asleep, spread throughout my entire body. I couldn't move but I don't know if I couldn't move because I was scared or because I was physically unable to move. I do not know how long that feeling lasted. While I was experiencing the pins and needles, and wondering what the hell was going on, I heard a white noise in my ear, like a whisper. it didnt say anything. it was just white noise, like from when a TV channel is snowy. shwishshwooshshowwhwhwsoohh. And then, out of nowhere, a phrase popped into my head "0 waiting, zero waiting" like a banner running through my mind. And then...it was over. The pins and needles feeling slowly exited my body. It did not just disappear, but left my head and shoulders and arms and exited through my feet. The noise stopped. And then it was quiet.

I started crying. I looked over at the alarm clock. It said 5:26 a.m. I then noticed a feeling inside of me. Inside my stomach and esophogus, there was a really warm warm sensation. It felt good. It was not a burning, but almost like I had a warm fire inside of me that was giving me a high. I woke Jon up. I was upset. But I don't know why. Perhaps because I was scared of the unknown. He stayed up with me until daylight.

Since then, I have had no other experiences, except now I wake up every single night for 10 or 15 minutes. One time, I dreamt about the pins and needles and that my cousin Nicole who passed away five years ago, and my aunt Maria, who passed 4 years ago, were visiting me during the pins and needles. In my dream, I was floating and embracing the experience. Jon was on the bed below me watching in awe and I was screaming "I embrace you, I embrace you." Then suddenly I was awake, wide awake. And my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. My heart never beat so hard before in my life. That was the only other thing that has happened since my first experience.

Going through this has prompted me to call Sabina, a medium I went to 5 years ago who was absolutely amazing- she was spot on with her statements. Very very good. I have been to her three times in my life. Only once out of the three times, I was not impressed. I cannot wait until my appointment with her, I will let you know what she says.

That's it, hopefully I will find peace at night- I would give anything to sleep undisturbed throughout the night. Even though it happened a month ago, only once have I slept through the night.

I will post more soon- no more 1 month breaks, I will try really hard to post regularly, like I used to!

Good money and peace,
Garnet.